MLB SlugFest 20-03

Midway hits one out of the park with the funniest baseball game ever!

Not since Baseball Stars has there been a hardball game with this much humor. Smart, quick, and drop dead hilarious, Midway's newest addition to its arcade sports series, MLB SlugFest 20-03 is easily the best of its kind so far.

Lending itself well to the contest of baseball, the attitude and approach taken by the Midway team has finally started to reach a stride matched only perhaps, by Barry Bonds himself. Packed to the rafters with hours of commentary, an easy to use run and gun engine, and the best visual presentation of any baseball game on the PS2 to date, SlugFest has a lot going for it.

FEATURES Much like other efforts from the same development team, SlugFest has a myriad of different options to prevent the game from becoming stale. Exhibition matches, Team-by-Team Challenge Modes, Tournaments, and even a 52-Game Season Option can be poked and prodded at until your heart's content. Unfortunately, you can't adjust how long your season lasts, so playing a 162 game schedule or perhaps even 20 games isn't an alternative.

At least all of the Major League teams have made it onto the roster, with about a dozen or so real life players on each. Made up mostly of the everyday guys and star players, there are still a few key emissions from camp to camp, but since this is an arcade effort and not a simulation, it's nothing to get worked up over. Although I will admit, it's kind of disappointing that you can't make bench changes and create pinch hitter situations, but alas, this is SlugFest's first year and you can't ask for everything.

Commonplace Midway components, like personal pin-numbered ID's for use with record keeping and accurate stat tracking for all the major offensive categories has made the cut as well. But don't be surprised if you find a couple of guys who regularly slug 80 homeruns per season, or a team with a combined average of .487. This is MLB SlugFest after all, not High Heat.

Of course, some of the more zany hidden goodies we've found in NFL Blitz and NHL Hitz have returned for the baseball stint too. With far-out stadiums based on ancient Rome and players with character models resembling dolphins, pirates, and horses galloping through their fields. Input enough of the now infamous Midway three-icon codes, and you can come up with some truly preposterous combinations. And they're great!

GAMEPLAY The controls are reminiscent of the older days of videogaming when one or two button presses would guarantee total control over the action. Using a very basic interface with commands like "contact", "power", and "bunt" when stepping up to the plate, the constantly displayed method for athleticism can be picked up and mastered in minutes. Pitching is handled in a similar way, with each face button representing a different type of pitch, with a second set of menus allowing you to throw the selected ball, pick someone off, or go back to the pitch-type select screen. A fast and easy way to jump into the action, the straightforward approach is both simplistic and complicated in terms of execution and effectiveness.

This is achieved by the inclusion of two specific gameplay elements: the Turbo Meter and the Bean option. Adding a lot more depth to an otherwise shallow game, the two extras mentioned above play key roles in the strategy of every contest. And while you could definitely get by without using both to your advantage, you'll never be able to ascend to the upper echelon of Apollo without mastering those aforementioned techniques first.

The Turbo Meter in particular can mean the difference between a big-time rally and a cold streak that would put the chill on the world's furriest polar bear. Adding extra spice to your bat, speed to your pitches, and power to your fielders, the Turbo Meter is replenished to full capacity every half inning. But if you want to keep it filled after usage while still in playing in a particular half, you must perform spectacular plays, strike out batsmen, and do an all around good job. Similarly, this is the same way you can ignite your players on fire so that they will continue to play well and fill your meter that will further enhance your abilities, and so on. The cycle is never ending (Although only two players can be considered "hot" at once).

Working in conjunction with your Turbo Meter, the bean option that is almost as important. You see, if you hit a guy with a pitch once, you'll remove a considerable amount of "oomph" from his three abilities. Depending on where you hit him, the appropriate ability is sapped (Speed loss for a leg shot, Power for midsection, and Hitting for a head bean). Hit him again however, and you risk the chance of pissing him off and igniting him on fire, which will then supercharge his stats and turn him into a baseball super machine. Not to mention the fact, that he'll rush the mound and kick your pitchers ass all over the field.

What that translates into is an infinite amount of possibilities for situational hitting. So while nailing Barry Bonds may sound like a good idea if your bases are empty or you don't want him to blast a homer, you also run the risk of making him an even better player than before. As sometimes you don't even have to hit the same player twice to get that internal propane flowing.

Putting it all together, you have a very playable baseball game with enough of the creative liberties to get the normally uninterested participant excited. Unfortunately, because of the high scoring nature of the arcade engine, games can take forever. Even eclipsing the normally one hour sessions found in a simulation like All-Star Baseball. Even more painfully, those numbers are derived when playing the default seven-inning setting the CPU option reverts too. Moving the slider an extra two innings to regulation will tack on even more clicks. Thankfully, you can move the game all the way down to four innings, which is recommended for two-player action (especially since you can see scores in upwards of 60 runs plus in a single game) with the seven-inning option ideal for games against the computer at "Pro" difficulty or above.

Speaking of pro computers, the fielding A.I. is superb, with the option to choose manual control at any time by pressing "Square". Doing so will give you complete control of the guy closest to the hit ball, and pressing "X" before you reach will also allow you to jump or slide to intercept it. A fast and intuitive method to be sure, everyone in the office was big fans of the fielding system.

Sadly, if there were one major problem we have with the gameplay at all, it would have to be the danger of repetition. Like any sports game with a humor gimmick, seeing and doing the same thing you did 10 games ago could wear out its welcome rather fast. That type of situation didn't happen with this particular journalist, but the seeds to be planted were certainly there.